Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Representing Women's Literacy: Constructing a Pragmatist Feminist Paradigm to Guide the Implementation of Gender Sensitive Adult Education Policy Reform in the United States |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Lewis, Nina E. |
| Source: |
ProQuest LLC. 2018Ph.D. Dissertation, Union Institute and University. |
| Availability: |
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml |
| Peer Reviewed: |
N |
| Page Count: |
2532 |
| Publication Date: |
2018 |
| Document Type: |
Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations |
| Education Level: |
Adult Education |
| Descriptors: |
Females, Literacy, Adult Education, Educational Policy, Womens Education, Educational Change, Feminism, Critical Literacy |
| Abstract: |
The discourse of women and literacy re-emerged as a multidisciplinary, multiethnic subfield of the adult education movement during the 1980s amidst the international debates contesting the absence of emancipatory literacy policy initiatives for women. Today, in the United States, adult education policy excludes women-centered adult education and literacy as a gender-sensitive service category of the "Adult Education and Family Literacy Act." Modeling the meta-narrative method, this study synthesizes the gender policy innovations across U.S. public policy sectors to theorize the attributes useful in translating the representation of women's literacy as a gender-sensitive policy reform. Reframing the condition of female low literacy as a policy problem rather than a pedagogical strategy, the purpose of the study was to: (1) examine the integration of gender concepts across public policy sectors in order to identify the concepts that correlate with a gender-sensitive policy approach; (2) interpret the linkages between the construction of gender-sensitivity attributes and the knowledge base of women's feminist and critical literacy traditions; and (3) conceptualize the representation of gender-sensitive policy praxis at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of the U.S. adult education and literacy policy design. Re-articulating gender-sensitivity, this study contributes a holistic paradigm of the evolving pathways for gender policy reform in the U.S. To the extent that this study inspires a recognition of the social benefits in normalizing gender-sensitivity as a criterion in the adult education policy design; or as Kingdon (2003) purports--"getting people to see new problems, or to see old problems in one way rather than another, is a major conceptual and political accomplishment," this project elevates a voice in the adult education policy discourse that is virtually silenced (p. 115). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| Entry Date: |
2019 |
| Access URL: |
https://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:13891491 |
| Accession Number: |
ED599296 |
| Database: |
ERIC |
